Something's Different
by jakeroo123
Summary: After a fight with Bowser, Luigi wakes up to find himself in a room he doesn't recognize, but is clearly his nonetheless. From there, things only get weirder. Nobody remembers the Mario Brothers, not even their closest friends and worst enemies. Nobody even remembers Bowser kidnapping Peach. Something's changed, and it's up to Mario and Luigi to figure out what to do.
1. Chapter 1

Luigi shot up straight in bed, panting. He'd just had the oddest dream... Bowser had actually manage to slow him and Mario down enough to press a huge red button. Just as soon as he'd pressed it, the dream had ended, just like that.

He looked around the room a bit, hoping to calm himself by reveling in the familiar surroundings. There was a slight problem with that, though... His surroundings were not familiar at all. He was actually in a room by himself, without Mario anywhere in sight. The oddest part was, the room was decorated exactly like he would've done it if he'd had his own room. Everything was green, there were computer parts everywhere, he even had that air-bike he'd won a few years back...

He got out of bed, looking into the room's closet. In it was the same set of overalls and shirt several times over, just like the ones he was wearing. He moved to the window, just to be sure...

What he saw was completely unfamiliar. Instead of the hilly landscape around the isolated 13 Mushroom Way, he was in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. And the truly shocking thing was that there seemed to be equal numbers of Toads, Koopas, Goombas, and humans milling about the neighborhood.

Something VERY fishy was going on, Luigi decided. He opened the door to the room, finding a perfectly normal-looking hallway. Right across from his door, there was another just like it. He could see that it had Mario's emblem painted to the front. Opening the door to Mario's room, Luigi looked inside.

Mario was asleep on a pink sofa, with the tv in the room running the news. He also had a large refrigerator in the room, for some reason. Luigi also noticed that several pairs of overalls were strewn everywhere about the room, just like back at the house he was used to... Though there he tended to find them in really weird places, like on the bookshelf, roof, or the top of Peach's castle. Nothing so odd was happening here.

Suddenly, something on the television caught his attention. The newscaster had just introduced Princess Peach, who was about to make an announcement.

"_Hello, happy kingdom!_" Peach proclaimed cheerfully. "_I've got a big announcement today, and I hope you're all happy with it! Tomorrow, I'm having a huge party at the castle, and everybody in the kingdom's invited! I hope to see my 'secret admirer' there, too! I just can't wait to meet you!_" Peach giggled, waving at the camera. "_Oh, and before I forget, there's a costume contest! Winner gets to spend four hours with me, doing whatever, so get your noggins on picking a costume!_"

Of all the things he'd seen today, that was by FAR the weirdest for Luigi. Peach was acting so... So unlike the mature and smart girl he knew. In fact, she was acting like a teenager, even though she was twenty-five years old! And shouldn't she know that her 'secret admirer' was obviously Bowser? Nothing about that news broadcast made sense.

And it only got worse. The newscaster was now allowing BOWSER to speak, of all people.

"_Hello to you, my neighboring kingdom! Now, as you just heard from the lovely princess, there's going to be a party tomorrow! Can I get a Gwah-YEAH here? Anyhoo, me and my cabinet are going to be attending. We've got a pretty darn good reason, too. YOU WANT PEACE TALKS? YOU GOT PEACE TALKS! ON WITH THE ALLIANCE! WOO!_"

"... What the heck is going on, Luigi?" Mario asked. Luigi turned to face his brother, who seemingly had also been watching the news.

"I honestly have no idea..."

"Something to do with that weird machine Bowser had, maybe?"

Luigi stared blankly for a bit before realization hit. "OF COURSE! Somehow, that machine must have done something - sent us to an alternate universe, changed the past, maybe even stuck us in a dream world... But what?"

"Doesn't matter now," Mario said. "First, let's figure out what's going on... And I think the best way to do that is to go to Peach's costume party tomorrow."

"What? Why?" Luigi asked. In hindsight, he really should have seen Mario's plan, but he was quite frazzled by everything that was going on.

"To talk to Peach, of course," Mario said, grinning. "Now... It's time to pick our costumes."

* * *

_Oh look, another story from me. Yeah... Anyway, this story's my first non-crossover that's not a one-shot story. Since it's not a crossover, I'm kind of assuming you'd be familiar with Mario's world. If I make an obscure reference, though, I'll try to put an explanation down here._

_The first chapter is kind of short, but the only way I could have made it around my normal length would be to either put in the fight with Bowser that started things off (which I don't want to actually be the starting point), or the party at Peach's place (which is the next chapter)._

_I've also already decided on their costumes. But if you've got ideas, I'd still like to hear them._

_Any title ideas would be a huge help, too. __I'm REALLY not sure about this one._

**_13 Mushroom Way: The address given for Mario's house in the german comic books based on the series. Despite sharing a name with the area Mario's house is in in Super Mario RPG, the name seems to be coincidental. The house is depicted here as being much larger than in the games, and actually appears to be a normal house. I thought the address worked well for them, though, so I decided to use it._**


	2. Chapter 2

Their first ideas for costumes had just been to transform into Tanooki Mario and Kitsune Luigi, but nobody seemed to have heard of Statue Leaves. They weren't extremely common, so the Bros didn't think much of it.

What WAS weird was that nobody in town seemed to really recognize them beyond being plumbers.

Their second idea was to dress up as hammer bros, but nobody knew what they were, either! They did, however, find out that Peach's contest required a performance to convince that the costume was real.

That's when Mario got the idea to use their magic to be convincing. Mario decided to go as a dragon, and insisted that Luigi be the wizard that defeats him. The rest of the day consisted of trying to find appropriate costumes, because Luigi wanted to look like a _very specific_ wizard from a video game.

Eventually, they had everything they needed for the costumes around sunset. They headed back to 'their' house, had dinner (which, oddly, didn't seem to include any actual mushrooms), and went to bed.

They figured that they wouldn't get an audience with Peach without winning the contest, considering everybody's reactions (or lack of them) to them in town, so they decided to practice their 'act' in the morning.

Well, Mario did. Luigi could make a very convincing wizard just by stirring up the wind a little and shooting a bit of lightning from his fingertips. Mario, on the other hand, had to practice breathing fire, as opposed to throwing it.

For the first hour of practice, Mario got nothing but the taste of smoke in his mouth. After awhile, Luigi eventually got bored of watching him, and gave him some pointers (Luigi having mastered the technique with the fire flower long, long before). After that, it was only thirty minutes for Mario to master breathing fire. Well, not quite master, he was quite sure Bowser was a LOT better at it, but it was enough to pretend to be a dragon.

And, from there, the Mario Brothers were off for the party.

Luigi's costume was... Well, very purple. He had a purple wizard's cap with a red jewel, a purple cape, and underneath that, a lavender tunic, with a red-jeweled belt. Mario asked who he was supposed to be, but Luigi refused to tell him exactly who.

Mario's costume was simpler. He just looked like a generic western dragon, though much smaller, wingless, and bipedal. He'd really wanted a red costume, but he'd eventually had to settle for blue instead. It wasn't the best costume, but hopefully the fire breathing thing would be convincing enough.

* * *

Peach's Castle: A place of wonder for the Mario Bros. It was a bright, cheerful place, built out of the finest marble bricks.

It truly was a sight to behold. And, as Mario and Luigi walked up to it now, it was more beautiful than ever in the afternoon sun. Luigi stopped outside and stared at for a few moments, trying to put his finger on exactly what was off about the castle, what was making it look so good. After a good five minutes of trying to find anything wrong with it, he realized that what was different was that there was nothing wrong. The castle was in absolute perfect shape, as though Bowser didn't bust a hole through the wall or ceiling once a month.

While Luigi was pondering this, Mario eventually got fed up and dragged him inside.

The main hall of the castle was filled with faces, both familiar to the Mario Bros and not, and everyone was in costume. Mario set Luigi down, and told him to go find someone they knew, and talk to them.

Unfortunately, that didn't work out so well. Mario talked to Toadsworth, who claimed to have not known that 'Mario' was an actual name. Luigi's first target was Yvan, the blue toad who they'd shared a few adventures with, but that got him nowhere. Yvan even seemed... Frightened, somehow, at the prospect of an adventure. And Luigi was sure it was Yvan, he'd even told him as much.

Neither brother had any luck with the rest of the Toad Brigade, not even the Captain, who seemed to be quite amused that he and his group had fans and a nickname.

More and more people the Mario Bros knew from their adventures denied recognizing them, not even Bowser's own lackeys, who seemed a lot more professional for some reason.

Finally, at around 6:00 PM, the costume/acting contest started. Mario and Luigi settled down to watch the preformances before them, and some were quite impressive. One Toad even dressed up all in black, and started using a grappling hook to swing around the room. A Koopa decided to, instead, dress as a pirate, and put on the most impressive pirate accent either Mario Brother had seen before.

As it turned out, Mario and Luigi were the last contestants. Luigi was called up first, but told them that he and his brother's act had to be done together. The Toad workers talked among themselves for a few moments before agreeing.

Luigi gave a thumbs-up to Mario, and Mario moved to the stage.

He looked on the audience, and cleared his throat a few times. In the best imitation of Bowser's voice he could do, he roared. "I AM THE GREAT DRAGON MARIOTERYX! NONE MAY STAND UP TO ME!" For effect, he put his head back and formed a fireball in front of his mouth, blowing it straight upwards.

"Think again, evil dragon!" Luigi yelled, jumping to the stage and using the wind to slow his descent for dramatic effect.

"WHO DARES CHALLENGE ME?"

"It is I, Luugi, the wind sorceror!" Luigi proclaimed, his hat and cape blowing dramatically in the wind. "I shall bring you down, mighty beast!"

"WE SHALL SEE!" Mario roared, sending a fireball at his brother.

Luigi spun as the fireball drew close, creating a mini-tornado around himself to catch it. He stopped spinning, and clapped his hands as he pulled all of the oxygen away from the fireball, instantly destroying the projectile.

"You see? Wind beats fire! And now, for my finale!" Luigi spun around, faster and faster, creating a powerful localized tornado.

Mario smiled internally, allowing himself to be pulled off of the ground and into the tornado. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Luigi stopped spinning, allowing the tornado to die down. Mario landed next to him gracefully, and the two pulled a victory pose together in front of the completely stunned audience. Even from their seat high in the balcony of the entrance hall, Peach and Bowser were amazed.

"Yo, Peach," Bowser whispered to the other royal. "I think they're our winners."

Peach giggled. "Those special effects were amazing, almost like real magic!" She stood up. "Attention, happy kingdom! WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! The dragon and the wizard will be spending the evening with me and Bowser"

Everybody applauded.

"Now, eat! Drink! Have fun! I will be giving those two a tour of our wonderful castle! Tee hee!" Peach giggled again. "Come on up to the second floor, winners! They'll let you in." Peach and Bowser walked around the upper walkway to the double doors leading to the second floor, while Mario and Luigi just ran up the stairs. They reached the door before their host, and slipped out of their costumes once they got inside, stowing them in their inventory space. No explanation on how that works.

Just seconds later, Peach and Bowser walked into the spiral staircase room that led to the second floor.

"Outstanding preformance," Bowser said, grinning. "Truly amazing. How did you manage the fire breathing thing? That was so cool!"

Peach smiled. "Yes, it was good. May I have your names?"

Mario and Luigi looked at each other nervously. They'd hoped that at least Peach and Bowser would remember them.

"Umm, we're Mario and Luigi," Mario finally spoke up.

"Don't you remember?" Luigi asked.

"Never seen you two before in my life," Bowser said.

"Neither have I," Peach confirmed. "Why? Do you think we've met?"

"... Um, you could say that," Mario said. "You see, I've been rescuing you from him for the past four years. Every week."

Bowser laughed. "Okay, then, I'll humor you. Why, exactly, would she need rescuing from me? We're good friends."

"... Because you have a massive crush on her and want to take over the world?"

"C-crush? N-n-nooo... I... I'm not in..." Bowser stammered. "WHY would I want to take over the world?" He quickly changed the subject, because talking about his crush clearly made him uncomfortable.

"Oh, you do love me!" Peach sighed dreamily, looking at Bowser.

Mario and Luigi looked at the two, and started backing away slowly.

Peach gasped. "You must be my secret admirer!"

Bowser blushed.

"... Okay, that's enough of that," Mario cut in before it could go any further. "Back to the matter at hand..."

"Oh, yeah," Bowser said. "Now, how did you do the fire breath thing?"

"Magic. But that's-"

"Oh, a magician never reveals his secrets, right..." Bowser said disappointed. "So, what was it? Holograms? Hidden lighter? Something else?"

"Magic," Mario repeated. "But I'm trying to ask-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're crazy. Got some weird fantasies, you do. Anyway, what's the secret behind the fire breath? I wanna breathe fire, too!"

"There's no secret! It's magic! Real, honest magic! I draw on my energy, focus on forming a fireball, and blow! That's it!" Mario formed a fireball in his hand, holding it up to Bowser. "See? Magic."

Bowser was silent for a few moments before Peach spoke up. "... I knew you were loony."

"I'm not loony!" Mario insisted. "Look, okay, something's going on! We're heroes and nobody remembers us!"

"Prove it," Bowser said. "Prove you know us. Tell us something nobody knows, and then maybe I'll believe you."

Mario sighed. "Okay. Bowser, your favorite color is red, your natural eye color is green but you wear red contacts, your sister is a complete bookworm, your fangs are fake, and you wear heart-print boxer shorts."

"... That's all true... somehow..." Bowser said. "But I'm not convinced yet!"

Luigi continued on for Peach. "Princess, you'll do anything for cake, you carry tea wherever you go, the gems in your earrings are azurite, not sapphire, despite that being your..."

"I'm convinced," Peach said. "There's no way you could've known about the tea thing."

"Also, Bowser sleeps with a teddy bear named 'Azerath the Dark Sorceror of Doom'," Mario said.

"Shut up," Bowser grumbled. "Okay, fine, I believe you too... Fine, let's just get somewhere besides this staircase so you can tell your story."

* * *

The group of four moved into the mirror room, which Mario recalled had the painting portal to Snow-Man's Land in it, but that didn't seem to actually be here anymore...

Mario and Luigi began their story, telling Peach and Bowser of the life they'd lived before, and how everything was different. How nobody knew who they were, how Toad Town was so much bigger ("Mushroom City," Peach corrected. "It hasn't been called Toad Town in five hundred years."), and how everything was just different.

At the end, Bowser and Peach had quite appropriate reactions.

"I can breathe fire? SWEET!" Bowser yelled. He inhaled, and exhaled as hard as he could... Producing an underwhelming puff of smoke. "... I need practice. Still, sweet! I've got a superpower, baby!" Bowser grinned in his own odd, toothy way.

"... Uhh... I don't think I can really help you," Peach said. "I don't remember any of that... Though... I think I do know someone who COULD help."

"Who's that?" Mario asked.

"Professor Elvin Gadd," Peach said. "He's the most respected mind in Mushroom City. If anyone knows what's going on, he will."

"E. Gadd? I remember him," Luigi said. "He's that guy who built the time machine that got you trapped in the past."

"What? Oh, never mind..." Peach said. "Anyway... You can come back here if you need any help from me."

"Or want to give me lessons in flame!" Bowser added. "Seriously, give me lessons when you get the chance. A king with superpowers would be _epic_."

"I'll... Keep that in mind," Mario said, getting up. "Come on, bro. Let's get home for now."

"Right. Good night, Peach. Thanks for having us!" Luigi followed his brother out.

"... So, this is weird," Bowser said after they left.

"Yep."

"Wanna get married?"

"Seems fun."

* * *

_As you can probably tell by now, things are getting SERIOUSLY weird. For the Mario Bros, anyway. And, as you can probably tell, it's not going to be letting up very soon. Everyone's forgotten, nobody has their powers except them... Nobody even seems to know that magic exists. What's going on here?  
_

_So, it seems Bowser's not so bad anymore! Is it an act, or is it for real? Who knows? Besides me, anyway._

_Still would like to have a better title._

**_Breathing Fire: In the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario World, Luigi would breathe fire instead of throwing it when he had a fire flower._**

**_Luigi's wind powers: These come from Super Mario Strikers, and Mario Super Sluggers. _**

**_Luigi's costume: He's dressed as Vaati from the Legend of Zelda series. It fit well with his wind powers I mentioned, which I did want to put into the story._**

**_Most of the stuff about Bowser and Peach is made up, but Peach really does pull tea out of nowhere, and Bowser's eyes are sometimes green; and his fangs are apparently removable._**


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Mario and Luigi set out to find where E. Gadd lived, by looking him up at the library. After several hours of failure, they decided the best idea would be to just ask the librarian.

The librarian was an old Koopa Troopa, with large glasses and a red shell. He was somewhat stouter than most Koopas, and had visible fangs. His face was very familiar to the Mario Brothers, but they couldn't quite recognize him.

"What is it you need?" The librarian asked, making the Mario Bros realize they'd been staring at his fangs for several minutes. The voice was even familiar... Rather higher than normal for a Koopa, and quite scratchy.

"Oh... Um... Would you know where we can find where E. Gadd lives?" Luigi asked.

"He prefers to keep himself unlisted," the librarian said. "But he is a personal friend of mine... I MIGHT show you the way, if you answer a question."

"What's that?" Mario asked.

"Do you believe in magic?"

"... Yeah," Mario said.

"We can do some magic."

"Really?" The librarian asked. "Good, then. Follow me, my assistant Russ T. will take over." The librarian led them back behind the front desk, into a small office. The office was quite bare, with just a desk and chair. At the back of the office was a plain brick wall, apparently neglected by the builders of the library.

The librarian rapped on the brick wall six times, switching between two differently colored bricks in a specific order. 1-1-2-1-2-1.

The brick wall opened, revealing a passageway. The librarian motioned for the Mario Brothers to follow, and the brick wall closed behind them. The librarian pulled a magikoopa wand seemingly from nowhere, and spun it around his body. When the blue robes and wizard hat appeared on the Koopa, Mario and Luigi instantly recognized him.

The librarian was none other than Kamek himself, the second most powerful Koopa in the world, behind Bowser.

"I am Kamek, the grandmaster of the secret order of magic," Kamek said. "Elvin Gadd is part of our council... Despite having no magic himself, he's done quite a bit of research on the subject. Now, what branch of our order are you from?"

"... We aren't," Mario said.

"Actually, we've really got a bit of an issue..." Luigi explained the situation he and Mario were in to the best of his ability.

"... If what you say is true, then you need to see Elvin immediately," Kamek said. "If it's false, then you're insane and need to see him immediately anyway. Follow me."

Kamek led them through a winding series of tunnels, deep underground. Mario began to recognize the place as the Toad Town Tunnels, a vast network deep within Toad Town's sewers. The tunnels stretched for miles, and had pipes leading to everywhere in the world.

"Are you familiar with these tunnels?" Kamek asked.

"Yeah," Mario said. "Very familiar."

"These tunnels are the center of all magical activity in the world... There's even a whole town in the lower levels. Since we're just going to Thwomp Volcano, though, we won't need to go down there."

"Thwomp Volcano, huh?" Mario asked. "Hmm... I guess he never moved since we never stopped that eruption... Wait, no, he stopped... Ugh, time travel makes my head hurt."

"Time Travel? How is that even possible?" Kamek asked.

"Tell you later... How about you tell us a bit about what's up with things here while we walk? Why's the magic in secret under the city?" Luigi asked.

"Well... Do you know how people recieve magical gifts?" Kamek asked.

"Star energy?"

"Not usually, but not a bad guess. There are certain places where there's a special energy permeating through the ground. I myself don't know what causes it, but it seems to originate from the very lowest level of these sewers, and seeps out into the pipes there, spreading into a few other areas in the world. These places are the sources of magic. Wands can only be crafted in these places, and only recharge in these places. Is it different where you're from?"

"I've never met a single person who couldn't do at least some magic," Mario said. "And most people I've met don't need wands." Mario conjured a fireball in his hand. "Me and Luigi can't do much without wands, but I can use fire any way I want. Luigi's skills are a bit more diverse."

"... Elemental powers?" Kamek asked, wide-eyed. "Oh my... I thought... No-one's been able to use elemental powers for three thousand years... But now is not the time. We're here." He turned to a blue pipe sticking out of the wall. "This will lead us directly to Elvin's basement."

* * *

The sight that met the group upon climbing out of the basement was not a pleasant one. The entire lab was ransacked, papers, inventions, and various things strewn about everywhere. Mario and Luigi immediately leapt out, standing back-to-back to cover any possible attack from hostiles. Kamek climbed out hesitantly, and carefully looked around the lab. He immediately noticed something out of place, a note pinned to the door.

He pulled the note off, and read it aloud to the Mario Bros.

"_To whom it may concern: Professor Elvin Gadd has been taken into custody by our organization. Unless the individual hiding his magical research comes forth and presents it all to a representative of the organization within the month, he will be dealt with most harshly. We WILL find you. Once you are ready, press the red button on the small machine left next to Gadd's computer station. We will come within the hour, with Elvin in tow. Do not bother with trying to fight us. Our technology is far ahead of yours, and we have inventions designed specifically to combat your magic._

_Organization X_"

"Organization X?" Mario asked.

"... No one knows anything about them," Kamek admitted. "Not where their base is, not their goals... But they always get what they want, in the end."

"They haven't had to deal with us," Mario said confidently. "We can take them. Luigi, make sure there's not some emergency back in Toad Town... Mushroom City, I mean, with E. Gadd's computer."

"Okey-dokie, bro," Luigi moved over to the computer, which had been left on, and opened up the internet browser. He navigated to the Mushroom Kingdom's news, and his face paled. "Oh no..."

Mario sighed. "How bad is it?"

"The worst possible marriage is coming true..."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"I'm not... Peach and Bowser wed in three hours"

"THREE HOURS?" Mario yelled. "Let's go, now!" He grabbed Luigi, and was just about to dart back into the basement when Kamek stopped him.

"Elvin's been kidnapped! This is hardly the time for stupid celebrity matters!"

"You have no idea what nightmare will be released on the world. Stay here and look for evidence!" Mario dragged Luigi back down the pipe, hoping that he'd be there in time to stop the end of the world.

* * *

_I'm not sure about this chapter. I mean, yeah, it all works out with my plans, but I'm not sure if I wanted the events to happen in this order. The exposition of magic, the kidnapping of E. Gadd... Those could have waited for later. But, I think, in the end, this might work better. I'm still not sure how long this story will be. But, the Mario Bros rushing off to stop Bowser and Peach from marrying does seem a good lead-in to later parts of the story._

_Something of note, originally, E. Gadd would have been kidnapped by General Guy, from Paper Mario. I decided to change that, because General Guy is associated with Bowser._


	4. Chapter 4

If there was one good thing to be said about Toad guards, it was that they were extremely stubborn. If they didn't want you knowing where the Princess was, the only way you'd find out was by looking for yourself.

She was usually in the next room when they said that, and it was usually to Bowser, so it was a moot point most of the time. But, as the Toads were all-too-happy to inform the Mario Brothers, the princess was having a private wedding, and it was not at the castle. And they didn't care how much Mario and Luigi said to them, they would not divulge her location.

It was this that led to the Mario Brothers frantically spiralling out from Peach's castle to search Mushroom City, which was so much larger and more complicated than the Toad Town they knew. Even moving at top speed, not quite fast enough that they couldn't be seen but a fair bit faster than most vehicles, it would take far too long to look everywhere.

Assuming, of course, that the princess hadn't just taken her private plane to some remote place to get married in peace. That would have caused more issues, as Luigi had pointed out, and Mario agreed that they should check its hangar first. Thankfully, its location hadn't changed. After confirming that the plane was still there, the Mario Bros set out to search the city.

* * *

Even as fast as they were, searching Toad Town before things had changed would take them a good hour. Mushroom City, however, was much, MUCH larger, sprawling even to the areas where Goomba Village and Koopa Village had originally. Nevertheless, the brothers pushed ahead, trying to search every bit of the city until they found the wedding.

As time went on, it seemed more and more likely that they'd made a mistake in thinking the wedding was in Mushroom City. It wasn't until they were out of time that they stopped in front of a television store, where every screen in the display was broadcasting that it had just ended, and had taken place on a cruise ship.

Mario and Luigi braced themselves for the end, but it didn't come. They stood there awkwardly in the street for several moments, before noticing the people staring at them and jumping up to the nearest roof.

"What just happened, bro?" Luigi asked. "Bowser and Peach got married. But..."

"'A fair and lovely princess... A furious monster king...'" Mario quoted. "Maybe..."

"... Maybe Bowser doesn't count now? But... Urgh, this is too much..."

"Then let's not deal with it now," Mario said. "We did kind of ditch Kamek back there."

Luigi stared at Mario for a few moments. "... We did! Come on, let's get back!"

* * *

"... They had the place bugged, didn't they?" Luigi asked, looking at what was left of E. Gadd's lab. Which wasn't much, apart from the pipe and some rubble. The only thing intact was a note pinned to what was probably a support post when the building was still standing.

Mario ran over to grab the note, and started reading. "Taken Elvin and his accomplice... bla bla, never see them again, bla bla bla, signed the Almighty and Great Leader of the X-Organization, Gro... Wait..."

"What is it?" Luigi asked. "Do you have an idea."

"... I should've guessed sooner," Mario said. "I know who Organization X is! There's no time to waste!" Mario dashed into the Warp Pipe, leaving Luigi to give chase.

"I hate it when he does that," Luigi said to nobody, following Mario as closely as he could through the tunnels. Mario almost managed to give him the slip when he jumped into a seemingly random pipe that smelt of salt.

On the other side, Luigi found himself underwater, and quickly swam upwards to find himself in the port at the south edge of Mushroom City. He'd arrived just in time to see Mario stealing a motorboat. Mario wasted no time in blasting off at full speed, and Luigi was just barely able to grab the edge of the boat as Mario streamed past. By the time Luigi had managed to climb into the boat, Mushroom City was barely visible, and the continent was getting smaller by the minute.

After collecting himself (Mario did not seem to have noticed he was there), he asked Mario a question.

"WHAT, exactly, are we doing?"

"I know where their base is!" Mario exclaimed. "We can get Gadd and Kamek back!"

"Okay... that's good... But why did you leave me behind?"

"I knew you'd catch up," Mario said unconcerned. "No one moves over water like you do."

"I appreciate the compliment," Luigi said. "But, what if I didn't?"

"Then I'd handle them, just like I did the first time," Mario said. "And I'd apologize once I got back."

"Oh. Well, thank you." Luigi said. After a few minutes of silence, he remembered something else he'd wanted to ask. "Um... Who are these guys, again? Where are we going."

"The X-nauts have a base on the moon," Mario said. "And I know how to get there!"

"The cross-what now?"

"X-nauts. Those guys who were trying to take over the world while you were on the... What was it, Yogurt Continent?"

"Pudding. And it was the Waffle Kingdom, that was just one part of it," Luigi said. "... You never told me you went to the moon."

"You didn't ask," Mario said. The rest of the trip to Rogueport was silent, Bowser and Peach's wedding forgotten for the moment.

* * *

The sun was setting as Mario pulled Luigi into an old pipe in what appeared to be the... questionable side of town. Once down in the sewers, Luigi was surprised to see another town was down there (though it was rather dank and old).

Mario wasted no time in breaking down one of the doors in town, completely ignoring the townspeople's (and Luigi's) protests. Inside the building Mario busted into was a strange, high-tech machine consisting of a control panel with a large red button, and a pad on the floor.

Luigi wondered what it was, but didn't get a chance to voice his question before Mario punched the button and shoved them both onto the pad.

* * *

_Alright! Sorry it's been so long, but... Well, things got in the way. First, I had finals, so that took up a fair bit of attention. Then, a really cool game I was extremely excited for (Starbound) entered a semi-public beta, so that distracted me from my writing for a few weeks. And now... Well... I'm moving. I'm leaving the country in about 40 hours. It's going to be awhile before I have internet again after that, so I decided to post this. Happy new year, everybody!_

_(If any of you have Starbound, let me know! It's really cool!)  
_

_Originally, this chapter would've gone a bit differently. Kamek wouldn't have been taken, and Mario and Luigi would've found the wedding but have been unable to stop it. Also, due to these changes, a character who would've died (likely in the next chapter) is now far less likely to._

**_X-Naut/Cross-Naut: _**_The main antagonists of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, in case anybody didn't know that. Very late into the game, one of Goombella's tattles reveals that 'X-Yux', one of the minions of the X-Nauts, is pronounced 'Cross-Yux'. By this logic, 'X-Naut' becomes 'Cross-Naut', as well. Also interesting, 'Tec-XX', the X-Naut's intelligent computer, could be interpreted as 'Tec-Double-Cross'. Take a guess at what he does.__  
_


End file.
